Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water released only a couple weeks ago to generally positive acclaim. While the game may be a bit repetitive in some places, its integration of the GamePad as the Camera Obscura was a clever move that really added a whole new layer of immersion to the experience. Siliconera recently caught up with Makoto Shibata and Toru Osawa – the Director and Co-Producer, respectively – to get more insights into the development process and many interesting tidbits of information naturally popped up.

One of the topics covered was the game's focus around the concept of water. The first idea for the concept emerged when the developers were brainstorming ideas for things they could do with the Wii U hardware that weren't feasible on previous consoles.

Osawa: In the early stages, we had discussions with Koei Tecmo Games about what Wii U-style visuals should look like. We groped around for things we couldn't depict in previous games in the series, but could now with the Wii U. The conclusion we came to was "water".

From ghosts appearing out of rippling water to the feel of droplets running down your body, water's played an important element in all kinds of horror scenes, but it's always been difficult to depict in video-game graphics. During our experimentation this time, we saw some pretty good prospects for making this happen, so we agreed to give it a shot and got to work with Koei Tecmo Games.

Another contributing factor stems from Shibata's belief that moisture needs to be present in the air for ghosts to actually appear in real life:

Shibata: The reason we went with water this time, though, comes down to my personal experiences. I think it was around 2008, but I was in Los Angeles in the summer, and the experience made me really feel like "I doubt I'd run into any ghosts around here". Then, when I went back to Japan and immersed myself in the kind of summer humidity you only see in Japan, it made me realize once again how much of a necessary element it was. I think there needs to be a level of moisture in the air in order for ghosts to appear. If the humidity's high, it feels like you're surrounded by something larger than yourself; the boundaries between you and the rest of the world grow ambiguous, and I realized that the water becomes an intermediary that connects you with the unseen.

Another topic covered was why Ayane - of DOA fame - was chosen to appear in such a radically different context to her typical video game appearances. It seems that Nintendo wanted to highlight the collaboration being made with Koei Tecmo, so they suggested that the company include a character form DOA. It additionally suggested the more action oriented approach that this game took compared to previous entries:

Osawa: We wanted to emphasize the collaboration aspect more between us and Koei Tecmo Games, so Nintendo suggested having a DOA character make a guest appearance. Most characters in DOA are highly seasoned fighters, but having that strength be rendered meaningless by these otherworldly ghosts is something that I think will seem pretty fresh to DOA fans.

Shibata: Nintendo was the one who suggested having Ayane as a guest character. I think the intention here, as discussed earlier, was to create a stronger action-oriented impression.

For more details on the development of this terrifying game, check out the full interview here.

What do you think? Were you pleased with how the latest entry in the Fatal Frame franchise turned out? Drop us a comment in the section below.

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

You never know, though, with the hamfisted way Nintendo's localization handled some of the game's other stuff. They could have easily cut her out because, hey, she's got boobs, and we can't have that in a family-friendly game like this. Maybe they replaced her with, say, Princess Peach; you can't be sure until you unlock it yourself! Such mystery!

That actually makes alot of sense. I played the trial over Halloween and I found the game to be excellent and I will definitely be purchasing the game when I have cleared out my backlog a little bit more. It is a nice change of pace from games like Smash and Mario Kart and it is a shame that we don't have more horror games on the system as that is the one genre that the Wii U is lacking.

Interesting, considering that in the West it is sometimes said that ghosts can't cross bodies of water. Anyway, pretty sure the PS3 could do the whole water and wet body stuff they wanted to do no sweat, but at least it gives some excuse for them to make it for Wii U. Actually, they should've said that the Gamepad was something that let them make a game not possible on past systems. Gamepad implementation in this game is one of the very few good uses of the gamepad in a non-party game alongside ZombiU.

Finally, cool that NoJ personally suggested Ayane to be added, but I'm extremely surprised that NoA didn't just censor her on the account of cleavage and have her replaced by Peach.

I am really enjoying this game. The atmosphere is brilliant, the graphics are good, the story is well done, the gamepad usage is ok too and the clunky controls I don't mind gives it that old school feel about the game.

I'm surprised they didn't mention any Japanese folklore or mythology or Shintoism... Water is commonly depicted as a giver of life and death in their stories, including creatures ranging from the Undine to the Kappa, and sometimes a focus on drowned women or babies. (Hm, I wonder where the inspiration for this game came from...)

As for Ayane... Well... Random DOA plug, I guess? Japanese women tend to be tiny, what with their diets of little or no land meat. It's only been within the past few decades that statistic is starting to change. Even so, male gaze is a strange thing- that kind of character design isn't really conducive to a horror scenario. She can defend herself, and has a lot of martial arts training. Not exactly a meek and vulnerable target, which is supposed to be the main point of the main character/victim of the Fatal Frame series. (And other Japanese horror)

I will buy this game if Nintendo makes a boxed version of the game. The eshop price of the game is even higher than the (usually slightly discounted) price of the boxed version of a game. I actually like the game as it has a flair of Asian type of creepiness in it. In Asia, water occurs a lot in horror movies.

@GreatPlayer I'm in Italy, where a retail version of the game is supposed to exist, but obviously Nintendo didn't print enough copies. Will I spend € 120 for buying it on eBay? No way! Will I spend more than € 100 for an hard disk + digital version of the game? No way.Well done, Nintendo!

@andreoni79 Nintendo probably decided to curb privacy by including a small size internal flash drive, but what you may do is to delete existing games to download Fatal Frame. You may keep the save states. If ypu want to play those games you can download again without losing the save states.